Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-31
CALIFORNIA FRUIT.
The Condition la which il Ar
riyes I'm the East.

The Condition la which il Ar.
rives In the East.
Houston, Texas, October 25, 1887.
EDiToRs HERALD Il cut the en-
closed slip from your weekly of the
22d inst, and as it so entirely reflects
my observation and positive knowl-
edge OF the facts therein stated, am
glad to take advantage Of this occasion
to call attention to it, in order that
steps may be taken to correct this Sc
rious mistake, which, if continued,
will very soon bring California fruits
into disrepute and positive disgrace.
/ spent August and part of Septem-
Der of this year in your city, and en-
joyed the fine peaches, pears, and
particularly the grapes, exceedingly,
in fact almost lived on them and when
/ returned here could not say enough
in praise of Southern California and
its superb fruits, etc., and you can
imagine how disguised l must be
when l occasionally undertake to buy
some California fruits from the deal
ers here to send home to my family,
and find, upon tasting and examining
them, that l would not feed my SER
wants nor even my pigs or chickens
on them--to be more explicit, since l
returned here, which was the middle
of September. I have bought but one
little box (5 pounds) OF grapes for
which l paid fifty cents, and after get
ting them home, found that we could
not eat them because they were hard
and tasteless and were at last sent to
the kitchen and I presume my SER
wants threw them into the slop barrel.
| have tried several times since then,j
when l have seen some apparently
fresh arrivals OF fruits on the dealers
stands, to buy some, but have never
done so, for the reason Especially the
grapes) that it would be throwing
money away for nothing as the fruits
are unfit to eat. This is my obser-
walton in Houston, but it extends also
to New Orleans, where / frequently
go, because l am in the mercantile
business there and my business takes
me there quite often.
I happen to know personally some
of these fruit dealers here who bring
this fruit from your state by the car
load lots and have asked them why
they did not bring better quality OF
fruit, when in California there was
such an abundance OF luscious and
superior fruit to be had at such aston
ishing low prices, and in reply they
generally say, that unless the fruit is
shipped quite green or comparatively
unripe, it arrives here in damaged
and almost worthless condition, &c.
l know nothing OF the practicability OF
getting ripe fruits, grapes &C., from
California to the states east OF the
mountains, but know this, that Cali
fornia shippers had better not send
any fruits to these states at all, than
to keep sending such as they do, for
it will destroy the good name which
has been established for it, and also
put the notion in peoples minds, that
the Information which comes to them
of the productiveness OF Southern
California, and its superior products,
is all bosh and, to use common eX-
preston, "a put up job" Please
excuse me for this long TRADE against
this misrepresentation of your splen-
did country, climate and fruits, by
means of this miserable traffic, but l
have often thought OF writing to you
on this very subject and am glad that
this opportunity has come and that |
have said what l have said. l will be
glad to have you make use OF my
statements in any way in which you
may need them to endeavor to correct
this serious evil and to have your
country and its products receive better
treatment ut the hands of those who
handle them. Very resp'ty., II. G.
The following is the clipping refer
red to in the above:
The Boston Budget OF September
11th has this to say about California
fruit then arriving in that market: "lf
California fruit-growers expect to make
a permanent market in the East for
their peaches, grapes and pears they
will have to improve on the current
years shipments. The, peaches were
beautiful in appearance, but snare
and Il delusion to those who would
fain eat of them. Many were of the
clingstone variety, picked unripe, and
entirely unfit to eat. Pears lack flavor
and keeping qualities; and quantities
of inferior grapes, such as are COM
monty used by the Pacific coast
wine makers, are being forcedupon our
market to the disgust Of buyer and sell
lor." If the above criticisms are true,
or half true, they should receive i'm
mediate attention from the fruit
shippers of California. The fruit crop
of this State for 1887 was especially
fine, and nothing but the best should
have been shipped. The flavor OF
California pears and peaches is ex-
cellent, while our grapes are the
finest in the world. The probability
is that this fruit was shipped in Aug
ust, before the best grapes are ripe.
The best pears, clingstohe peaches
and grapes are not fit to ship before
September. The fruit growers of Cal
ifornia cannot afford to ship poor
fruit. 1t is vitality necessary to ship
nothing but the choicest fruits, if they
desire to supply the markets of the
East.-[October %, 1887.
Sick and Destitute.
+. A. Walker, a young man suffer-
4, ..,1 fa,,1,, o,,t .>e